Clinical Trials

One statistic that always leaps out at me is that women only make up around 27% of the participants in heart-related research. I honestly feel like this is one reason why women die more frequently from their heart attacks than men do; there's simply not as much known about heart disease in women.

We can start to change that by participating in clinical trials. Here's a good source of clinical trials:

http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/

In fact, searching that site, I just now found a study that's currently enrolling young women who've had heart attacks. As soon as this post is up, I'm going to email them and sign up, and I would encourage other women to seek out research opportunities as well.

Heart Walk Success

The Heart Walk went well yesterday. Thanks to generous friends and family, I raised over $250 for the American Heart Association! Thank you all so much for all your help and support.

Here's a link to my pictures on Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/47904085@N00/tags/2009heartwalk/

We had a warm, sunny day for the walk; I understand that last year was unseasonably cool. There were over 200 people on the team from UNC, and it was great to catch up with the rehab staff and some of the people who were going through rehab at the same time as me.

There were a lot of dogs at the walk, everything from huge friendly golden retrievers down to mini-poodles that people were carrying.

I'm looking forward to walking again next year.

Medical IDs, and SCAD discussion

At the local WomenHeart meeting last night, my group leader was admiring my new medical ID bracelet. I already had one, but this one is my new dressy one, with lavender and purple beads.

My feeling on medical ID jewelry is this: just because it's functional, doesn't mean it has to be fugly. ;)

Here are the two places where I got my bracelets, Fiddledee Ids, and Lauren's Hope.

I already have a plain black leather strap bracelet for everyday wear--the Kingston, from Fiddledee Ids. For swimming, I have a waterproof one of these, in purple.

My new one looks similar to this style from Lauren's Hope. I did the build your own option and chose two different shades of purple for the beads. I also have this purple adjustable waterproof bracelet.

So yes, I have four. Two for daily wear, and two for exercise. Both of the exercise ones are waterproof and both of those have been tested in swimming pools and the ocean.

I'm happy with the quality, engraving, and shipping speed from both Fiddledee IDs and Lauren's Hope; you can't go wrong with either place. They both have plenty of options for men, women, and children, and lots of choices to make your medical ID jewelry pretty as well as functional.

On another topic, I'm trying to round up as many SCAD survivors as I can and get them posting in one place, so we can find each other easily. The discussion I started over on the WomenHeart board is here: All the SCAD Ladies Put Your Hands Up.